The BMW X7 is officially on its way - X7 to be assembled in Spartanburg, South Carolina

The automotive world is treating this as some giant new story. BimmerBoost showed the X7 testing last year and said it was on the way. Well, glad everyone now believes us as BMW made the X7 official in a press release today. CEO of BMW AG Dr. Norbert Reithofer stated, “In addition to the X3, X5, X6, and the new X4, we are today announcing another all-new, larger X model to be manufactured exclusively at this plant for our world markets: the X7.”

An X7 is logical in the sense that BMW has no vehicle to rival the Mercedes-Benz GL-Class. Since BMW is now all about squeezing out variants and increasing sales numbers more X variants should surprise absolutely nobody. Let's just hope it stops here as BMW may run out of numbers.

BMW Group Expands its Commitment in the USA

Commits US $1 Billion investment by 2016; Extends X family with new BMW X7; Increases plant capacity 50% up to 450,000 vehicles; Creates 800 new jobs; Starts production of the new BMW X4; Celebrates 20 years of production in the USA

Spartanburg, South Carolina – March 28, 2014 1:00pm EDT/10:00am PDT...Celebrating 20 years of production in the USA, Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management, BMW Group, today announced plans to invest US$ 1 billion in the company's South Carolina plant: "We will expand the plant's annual production capacity by 50% up to 450,000 vehicles by the end of 2016. Today's capacity is around 300,000 vehicles. This investment will also create an additional 800 jobs, increasing the total workforce to 8,800 on site."

At the event held at the plant, Dr. Reithofer was joined by U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker; South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley; BMW Group Board member for Production, Harald Krüger; and President of BMW Manufacturing, Plant Spartanburg, Manfred Erlacher.

BMW X7 to be built at Plant Spartanburg

The additional investment will be used to increase capacity, which is necessary to meet strong global demand for BMW X models. "Plant Spartanburg was built to enhance and expand the BMW line-up, underscoring the BMW Group commitment to the United States" said Dr. Norbert Reithofer. "In addition to the X3, X5, X6, and the new X4, we are today announcing another all-new, larger X model to be manufactured exclusively at this plant for our world markets: the X7."

Harald Krüger, Board of Management member for Production explained the important role of the US for the BMW Group production strategy: "The BMW Group strives for a good balance of growth among all markets and continents. The Spartanburg plant is an important building block in our international network of 28 production and assembly facilities in 13 countries today and makes a vital contribution to profitable, globally-balanced growth."

He continued: "Our US plant is the best example of our successful strategy of 'production follows the market'. The state of South Carolina has supported us as a valuable and reliable partner throughout our 20-year involvement in the region – making the United States our second home."

BMW Group in Spartanburg: largest U.S. automobile exporter

Norbert Reithofer: "We are expanding BMW Plant Spartanburg as our center of competence for production of BMW X models and broadening our product portfolio. This expansion means Spartanburg will have the largest production capacity of any plant in our global production network. This plant already exports, on average, 70% of its annual production with a 2013 value of more than US$ 7.5 billion which, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, makes BMW the largest U.S. vehicle exporter to non-NAFTA countries."

Since production began 20 years ago, in 1994, the Spartanburg plant has produced over 2.6 million vehicles for BMW customers around the world. Currently the BMW X3, X5, X5 M, X6 and X6 M are all produced at the plant. The event also celebrated the start of production of the all-new BMW X4. In the near future, a plug-in hybrid version of the BMW X5 will also be produced here.

BMW Group economic impact on South Carolina

In addition to its large-scale capital investments, a new study just released by the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, reports that the BMW Group has a US$ 16.6 billion annual impact on the state economy. Its presence in South Carolina supports more than 30,000 jobs throughout the state.The study found that for every job created at the BMW plant, an additional three jobs are created elsewhere in South Carolina through the economic multiplier effect.

"This is the fifth expansion since production began 20 years ago and represents another major investment," said Manfred Erlacher, President and CEO of BMW Manufacturing. "The increase in annual capacity, the number of models produced, and the number of jobs on site, reinforce the major role BMW is playing in the region's economic vitality through technological innovation, environmental stewardship, and development of a highly skilled workforce."

In 2013, a total of 297,326 vehicles were manufactured in Spartanburg, with 1,100 vehicles currently produced per working day. Total employment at the site reached 8,000 in March 2014.

BMW Group In AmericaBMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group's global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all X5 and X3 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 339 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 139 BMW motorcycle retailers, 119 MINI passenger car dealers, and 35 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group's sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

Look forward to seeing these block the fast lane and carrying no extra passengers.

LOL - exactly. Look how big that thing is - either that, or they used an extra small parking block to make it appear larger. Guessing it's just enormous.

Nothing like forcing me to buy a turbocharged piece of garbage and blaming it on "driving dynamics" (or whatever they call it) - but then opening an entire plant that builds this gas guzzling nonsense. It makes no sense.

This is a good idea, if I had to pick one I'd rather have an X7 than a GL being a BMW guy. So, maybe an X7M with an "S74" that's also destined for the M7? I wouldn't mind that...you can hate me for saying that.

This is a good idea, if I had to pick one I'd rather have an X7 than a GL being a BMW guy. So, maybe an X7M with an "S74" that's also destined for the M7? I wouldn't mind that...you can hate me for saying that.

Nah, won't hate you - that's wayyyyyy too strong of an emotion for liking something like this + having an idea to expand on it. Think differently of you? Different story (completely kidding)

All I mean by my post (a few above) - is that they are changing the engine, and are putting in something they never said they would (non-NA engine) for reasons of "efficiency". Considering it's the entire fleet of car that is averaged - they could have not built this, and made a better S54B32 or S65B40 - and threw it in a lightened chassis. It's just frustrating watching one of your favorite cars go down a path that doesn't seem pure.

I am going to drive it (M3) when it comes out, and might buy one - but it will depend on how it drives relative to what I have driven in the past. Otherwise, I am done with BMW until they get their $#@! together (fire the marketing team).

I get you. I love the old NA M engines, but they sell so many that unfortunately thanks to the government we can't really have that anymore. The new M3/4 will be lighter than even the E46 perhaps, so that's a good thing. And the next-gen 5 and 7 series will be hundreds of pounds lighter than what they are now. So that's good too. I think things are generally moving in a good direction, I think sooner or later we were going to see the death of NA M engines anyway, it's tough to get as much power as is expected now out of a reasonably-sized engine that's happy to be daily driven for potentially hundreds of thousands of miles. Just a shame it had to happen so soon. I just try to stay positive no matter what.

I'm honestly surprised BMW has taken this long to build a 7series SUV considering the success of the X5, GL class, and Escalade, there is obviously strong demand (and margins) in full sized luxury suv's. It's even more surprising given the fact that BMW practically pioneered the German luxury SUV segment with the X5 (the ML doesn't count cause it was lame).